About Apptronik

The Opportunity

We have followed Apptronik for more than four years, spent time at their facility, met the leadership team, and have seen Apollo in person multiple times. Apptronik is building a general purpose humanoid designed to work in warehouses and factories today, with a clear path into broader industrial and service environments. Apollo stands at human scale at about 5’8” and 160 pounds, carries a 55 pound payload, and runs on swappable four hour batteries. It is built for mass production, safety, and seamless operation in spaces designed for people.

The company has converted nearly a decade of humanoid R&D, including work on NASA’s Valkyrie platform, into a commercial system now piloting with blue-chip partners like Mercedes-Benz, GXO, and Jabil in live factory and logistics settings.

Apptronik is the flagship humanoid partner for Google DeepMind’s robotics efforts. The DeepMind robotics team and 2024 Nobel Chemistry laureate Demis Hassabis, recognized for AI-driven protein structure prediction, have selected Apollo as a key embodiment for Gemini Robotics foundation models. Ultimately, Google’s default platform for frontier embodied AI.

Apptronik is widely viewed as one of a very small number of credible U.S. humanoid contenders, recently named #33 on CNBC’s 2025 Disruptor 50 list and winning Fast Company’s 2025 Innovation by Design award for AI.

Why it’s working 

• Real commercial pipeline
  $1.4B+ of signed LOIs across Fortune 500 and multinational customers, tied to specific deployments (e.g., trailer unloading, case picking, palletization, and machine tending). 17,000+ units under LOI gives Apptronik a forward “order book” that most humanoid peers simply don’t have yet.

• Industrial validation
  Mercedes-Benz has taken an equity stake and is testing Apollo on live manufacturing lines, starting with material movement and inspection tasks. Jabil is both deploying and manufacturing Apollo, creating a path where robots help build robots, and giving Apptronik access to a scaled, global supply chain from day one.
  
  

• Frontier AI partnership with Google DeepMind
  Strategic partnership with the DeepMind robotics team to co-develop foundation models for embodied AI on Apollo, using Gemini Robotics and Gemini Robotics-ER as the core model family. Apollo is one of the primary humanoid embodiments for Gemini Robotics, which is designed to generalize across robot hardware and let robots “think before acting” in the real world.

• Scalable hardware
  Apollo’s design emphasizes mass manufacturability (no exotic single-sourced parts), swappable batteries, and modular mounting (mobile, stationary, or wheeled bases). Partnership with the Texas–Mexico manufacturing corridor and Jabil gives a credible narrative for scaling thousands of units, not dozens.
  
  

• Category benchmark & Market potential
  Figure AI’s recent >$1B Series C at a $39B post-money valuation sets a clear high-end benchmark for humanoid comps if Apptronik executes. Morgan Stanley estimates a $5T+ long-term humanoid market, as humanoids begin to address a meaningful slice of the ~$30T global labor base.

• Stacked cap table and insider conviction
  The Series A was co-led by Capital Factory, B Capital, and Google, with strategic participation from Mercedes Benz, Ark Invest, and several Asia based investors. The round was heavily oversubscribed. Capital Factory is investing for the eighth time since 2018 and holds a board seat, giving us long term alignment with a hands on lead. We know the Capital Factory team well and are excited to participate alongside them at favorable terms. 

Why we’re interested 

• Embodied AI infrastructure, not just another robot
  Apptronik is effectively building the “physical layer” of AI, turning large foundation models into labor that can stack boxes, unload trailers, and eventually perform a wide range of tasks in human environments. This sits squarely within LFG’s thesis on AI infrastructure and compute.

• High-upside, concentrated risk profile
  Entry at a $5B pre money valuation in a space where the leading U.S. comparable is marked near $40B highlights the upside if Apptronik becomes one of the few winners that matter. This is a focused deep tech bet with real technology and execution risk, but the payoff is asymmetrical if they establish themselves as a foundational platform.

• Strategic relevance for Western industrial policy
  Humanoids sit at the intersection of AI, advanced manufacturing, and national competitiveness. Apptronik is U.S.-based, closely tied into the Texas hardware corridor, and competing directly with Chinese and global players for what increasingly looks like a “space race” in embodied AI.
  
  

• Lead/insider alignment and access
  The SPV is participating in a tightly held extension, with over $400M already wired and only a narrow window left open to accommodate final institutional strategics. Our access is a byproduct of LFG’s relationship with Capital Factory, rather than a broad market process.

Key risks (non-exhaustive)

• Execution risk: Scaling humanoid hardware and manipulation capabilities from pilots to thousands of units is extremely hard; failure to achieve robust reliability could cap adoption. 

• Capital intensity: The category is capital-hungry; follow-on rounds will likely be large and could be dilutive if market conditions tighten.

• Competitive pressure: Tesla, Figure, Chinese incumbents, and other well-funded players are racing in parallel; category leadership is far from settled.

Press

1. Apptronik Unveils Apollo

2. Apptronik Partners with Google DeepMind

3. Apptronik Dominates Industry Awards, winning Fast Company’s 2025 “Innovation by Design” Award after being named to the 2025 CNBC Disruptor 50 and Automotive News All-Stars Lists

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Notes

1. LFG+ Membership: LFG+ Members receive priority access to limited allocation and reduced economics — here are our membership details. To receive LFG+ benefits for this deal, you must activate your membership before Nov 21st.

2. Limited Allocation: we will make efforts to honor desired commitment amounts, but we cannot guarantee full allocations. LFG+ Members receive priority.

3. Limited Information: the information available to us and what we can share will be limited due to the nature of this deal.